Busy Boys!

Every single day, I try to think of something funny the boys either said or did. It's not real difficult, as I'm with them all day, everyday, and they certainly say a whole lot of hilarious things. The things they do surprise me.

Let's discuss Samson for a moment. He was rotten because I made him that way. To me, it was a cute rotten, you know. To others, probably a bit on the obnoxious side. I couldn't help it. From the moment he was born, he was just so sweet. The way he looked... fat cheeks, huge brown eyes that could melt your heart; I just never wanted to put him down for a moment. He stills thinks he's half infant because he wants to come ball up into my lap in the fetal position & let me hold him at least once every day. When I scold him, he cries like I've broken his heart. With Kaleo, it's different, Kaleo isn't affected like that when I scold him. I tell him no & he just says okay and shrugs it off. Samson just can't take it.

So yesterday, Davin & Samson were outside working on the motorcycles. It's the usual events for the mornings since Davin works at night a lot of the time. I hear Samson screaming, and of course, I have to run to his rescue. Davin tells me he peed in the garage next to the motorcycle! I think to myself, surely this cannot be!!! But lo & behold, it is true. Davin sends Samson to his room and much screaming ensues. It saddens me but at the same time, I know that he needs to know he did wrong.

So this morning we dropped the kids off at school (Kaleo & Esias). Afterwards, since Samson had been so well-mannered all afternoon after the incident, and also gotten dressed and followed directions this morning, I stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way home. I had a coupon for a free donut, so he thought it was the greatest thing that he got to pick the chocolate cake donut to sit and eat in the restaurant. I got the iced coffee, because it has been calling my name all week long. I suppose I used his good behavior to get myself a treat also! We had our little "date" and then we got back into the car and came home.

We had to pack back up into the car to pick the kids up for noon dismissal, and on the way there, Samson said, "Mommy, was I a bad boy today?" And I answered, "No, why do you ask that?" and he said "Well I was a bad boy yesterday". Of course, he's 3 years old & he knows how to break my heart right down the middle. I took the time to correct him, to let him know that he was NOT a bad boy yesterday. I would never want my children to think that they have gained the label as a "bad boy/girl" at any time. We discussed that his actions were bad, that peeing in the garage was bad to do, but that he was a good boy & he knew how to behave & be good. I proceeded to ask him if he would ever pee in the garage again, and he said "no because it's bad to do" so I'm hoping that this taught him something, but he certainly felt ashamed and somehow like a "bad boy" from the pent up guilt he had.

We all have learning to do!

Quick Update

It's been nearly a month since I last posted. Much has happened! Last Saturday's Walk for Life for the Crisis Pregnancy Center went extremely well. We had lots of friends join us! Kari & Matt & the twins drove 2 hours to be with us & Dev & Paige also came & joined us. Ironically enough, although I was the one to recruit them, they raised more money than me. However, I must hold my ground because I have more children than any of them!

Since then, our baby girl has grown so much. She is now 11 1/2 weeks old. And just as sweet as she can be! She sleeps for 8 hours before waking up at night. This has not only restored my sanity, but also means that the exhaustion headaches are beginning to dissipate.

Davin's schedule has remained that noon to 8pm shift. He has also maintained his position as Vice President of the MWR, which really means that I must think of & plan all fundraising activities with detailed projected profit analysis for the board to view.

I spent the time necessary to re-vamp the resume & other means of job hunting. I'm still trying to locate a job that does not exist, I suppose. Flexibility with my kids congruent with some form of pay just does not seem to be an easy item to locate in this market. I have high hopes though, and I'm not going to get down about it. At least I have a job, even though I have to put in so many hours each week.

Soon & very soon!

It's Mary Jane silly!

While outside playing, one of the neighborhood kids came over & asked Davin what we had growing in our flower bed in the front yard. In all seriousness, Davin told the 10 year old that it was mary jane. The 10 year old girl did not catch the sarcasm and then responded, "Davin, that is a type of bread, so really... what are you growing here?" I have to admit that mary jane sounds much more interesting than the annual that was on sale at Lowe's for our front yard's tiny flower bed.

The boys have had quite a start to this week. Kaleo has been on spring break, and has been very busy doing boy things. The kinds of things that I have to ask "why would you do that?" and get the very familiar boy answer "I don't know". So the real question is... if he doesn't know why he did it, then who does? I would like to speak with this individual to try to convince whomever it may be that the strange boy things need to stop. There is a 3 year old and now an infant going to soon be following in his footsteps! Oh the humanity!

An Amazing Feat

Today was challenging. I've had a headache for nearly three days because on Tuesday, I managed to bang the side of my head against an open car door and then a few short minutes later, banged the back of my head against the top bunk of the bunk bed while tucking Samson in. My head has been throbbing for days. There is nothing that helps. A jolt of caffeine won't assist my throbbing head this time. Not for bruises anyway.

So this afternoon, I put the children to bed. Kaleo & Samson went straight to sleep at 1pm. They didn't even try to stay up and talk to one another or anything, since yesterday Valerie & Noah came over for a play date & we went to the movies, out to lunch, etc. So they were exhausted today. And then Kipani usually stays awake when they are sleeping. She never wants to sleep when they do. It's almost like she knows she'll get to have one-on-one time with me if she stays up while they sleep. But at about 1:30, she started dozing. I thought to myself... this might just be a miracle. And then, fussing a little, fighting the inevitable. And then it happened... she fell asleep.

So from 1:30pm to 3:20pm, I had time to myself. I normally don't let the boys sleep past 3pm but I had to enjoy the few minutes I had. Swept the floor, washed the dishes, and sat down & read 3 chapters of a book. And there were no interruptions. No fighting children, no screaming or yelling, and no one came behind me & made more dishes or tracked in mud. Well, not yet. But the point is... it's quite amazing when every child in the house goes to sleep at the same time.

Amazing, to say the least.

Funny things Boys Do......

So it seems that I may be a bit distracted lately. In the form of my two young sons behavior, I have been able to detect how consequential a mother's distraction can actually be. They seemed to innocently ask if they could have a picnic outside. Why not? I thought to myself. It would be better than them making a mess inside! And so outside they went with their pizza rolls & apples. They were soon knocking on the door for more. That's fine, they are having fun eating outside. Little did I know, Hoku was getting quite a treat as they threw her whole pizza rolls for fun!

And then while at the top of the playhouse part of the swingset, I caught a glimpse of what looked like Samson pulling down his pants. And a longer glance led me to believe that there was something bad about to happen. He was pointing his boy parts down the slide, and was creating a "waterfall" if you will. As soon as I opened the back door, the waterfall stopped and both boys stared at me as if it were me who had lost my mind.

Yes, it would seem that they've had too much time with a distracted mother. And I vowed at that moment that I would not let them out of my sight for more than an instant.

And then came naptime. Surely I cannot stay with them every second, and I need a nap myself because getting up 2 and 3 times each night with a 5 week old baby has not been a cup of tea for me! But I heard noises and went into their bedroom, where I see Samson chomping on a giant piece of bubblicious. Nice. I sent him to spit it out in the trash. I asked Kaleo where he got the gum, since Kaleo is the one who has access to gum. Oddly enough, Kaleo didn't have any in his mouth. He claims that, "Samson MADE me get him gum".

Maybe I am a bit out of touch. But how in the world does a 3 year old MAKE a 6 year old retrieve for him a wad of gum? I think this equation is backwards, and does not seem to fit into the laws of any physics that I ever learned.

Even with that being said, this tired mama is continuing to hound these little boys to make sure they are behaving, keeping their room & playroom clean, and fitting into the proper boy-hood equation.

Time to get back to it!

So here we are, new baby in my lap, and ready to get back into the swing of things. She'll be 5 weeks old tomorrow, and my excuses for not having the dishes washed or laundry done are not going to be accepted any longer (personal standpoint of course).

To describe childbirth, there was one contraction. And then there was an immediate urge to go to the hospital. Not necessarily out of pain but just the knowledge of what the urge to push actually means during childbirth. 7:44am this all began. She was born at 9:24am, after the hospital made me go through the normal vital-taking procedures, go through admittance since I was not pre-registered at this particular hospital, and then sent me into a triage room for what seemed like forever (Davin claims it was no longer than 5 minutes but what does he know?). And then they realized I was fully dilated & she was soon going to make her way into the world whether or not they put me in a birthing room or not. So they pushed the bed, quite frantically, down the hall into the maternity ward. (The nurse actually rammed the bed into the wall twice with me in it!)

Kipani is doing quite well breastfeeding. Her first two days were extremely challenging, because she had a bruise on her head from being in the birth canal, but after the bruise & swelling started going down, she started doing really well. We haven't had any trouble at all with it, other than me being STARVING! It seems like I'm just hungry all the time. Hopefully that will reside soon, because eating 8 times a day is fun and all, but its very time consuming.

The boys are doing well with the adjustment. Kaleo is helpful, and Samson is too. However, Samson is a little less than gentle. He claims he's being gentle even though his hands are doing something on the contrary. Hopefully he'll figure out what gentle means. We have gotten back into our routine this week. Davin had 4 weeks off, and this was my first week taking Kaleo to school and taking care of the daily things and dinner by myself. It went relatively smoothly, so I'm looking forward to another week!